Hi guys, welcome to Orygyn!
This is the greeting I give everywhere I post under the name Orygyn. Well, not quite everywhere. This is my tagline. What I do is write or talk about political issues, music (specifically from an analytical and compositional standpoint), encourage people to think for themselves, and anything else I feel like at the time but those are the main ones. Enjoy 8<{D-

Wednesday, 2 March 2016

#NotWithTheMob 2

Hi guys, welcome to Orygyn.

I know. It's been ages since I posted here. This would've been a video but my phone's acting up and I want to make note of this while it's still fresh in my mind.

To illustrate this example, let's imagine a DEFCON-like system for attitudes to out-groups. SUBHUMAN 5 is neutral. SUBHUMAN 4 is gossip: mocking sentiments expressed towards outgroups, but the sentiments are not generally sinister (think Emos back in the mid-late 00s). SUBHUMAN 3 is significant here. I would say that Muslims have been at SUBHUMAN 3 since 9/11. Based on DarkMatter's video, and in combination with the ramping up of the language and hostility of the attitudes I've seen towards the feminist/SJW community recently, I am also classifying them SUBHUMAN 3: the relatively common view that the community is somehow a threat or a danger. Let me be clear about this: whether you feel it's justified or not is irrelevant. You will see how this is a problem as we look at the next 2 levels.

SUBHUMAN 2 is when a dehumanizing process has begun: the Muslim community is dangerously close to SUBHUMAN 2, and if Trump gets elected, there is a real possibility of what Sam Harris is advocating at some point down the line. SUBHUMAN 2 can be declared safely when legislation has been passed against the out-group. For example, ID cards. SUBHUMAN 1, by the way, is when a significant portion of the population can have a psychopathic lack of empathy towards the out-group to the point where attacks and genocide are possible, a reality described and documented by David Eagleman in his documentary.

Don't get me wrong. This probably won't happen. We live in more peaceful times than ever (if you don't believe me, just compare now to this point in the century 100 years ago). We are more connected and tolerant of all sorts of different out-groups than we've ever been. However, having a community the core principles of which is to reduce discrimination (but may not go about it in the best way) this demonized at a time when Muslims are demonized as well and ISIS attacks are fresh in people's minds with more anticipated and warned of by the group? This is a perfect storm.

I foresee a possible future where Donald Trump becomes president at a time of great suspicion of Muslims, increasing suspicion of SJWs and liberals by extension, possibly aided by an ISIS attack on home soil (if this happens, things will be bleak), and it not only turns out that "he says what he thinks", but he does what he says. Is it scaremongering? By default I guess. That doesn't make it impossible. The benefit of the human brain is that we can imagine scenarios in order to stop them before they become reality. We can break any one of these links in the chain to prevent this from happening, and many have argued against Donald Trump better than I could, but my specialty is skepticism. Skepticism to me is assessing claims for their merit. This necessarily involves cultivating an understanding of opposing ideologies and empathizing with their perspectives. None of this is compatible with mob justice. The irony of a mob arising against a community which has a reputation, deserved or not, for mob justice should sting. If you're part of that mob, shame on you. This is an extremely important time to be...